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Performing Arts Center group to add cost cap to request for city land

City Council to consider request to donate downtown land during July 25 meeting

Klein

The nonprofit organization aiming to bring an $85 million performing arts center to Lubbock will take another shot at requesting that the City Council consider donating 5 acres of downtown land.

Concerned about potential city costs in the project, council members June 27 delayed their decision on the Lubbock Entertainment & Performing Arts Association’s request for the city to dedicate the property at Avenue L and Marsha Sharp Freeway.

Association President Tim Collins said he hopes to present a tweaked version of the proposal — including a cost cap — to the council at its July 25 meeting, adding he believes the delay is in taxpayers’ best interest.

“I commend the council for raising the question and both parties for saying, ‘Let’s get all the facts before we move forward,’ ” Collins said. “I understand where they didn’t want to move forward writing an open check.”

Council members said they’re not opposed to granting the city-owned land — the current site of a soon-to-be-replaced Department of Public Safety headquarters — with conditions requiring the association to first raise $45 million for the project and begin construction by Dec. 31, 2017.

But Councilman Todd Klein and other leaders said they couldn’t support the association’s original request to have the city cover the unknown cost to demolish the DPS building.

“I never want to write an open check to any entity,” Klein said last week.

Collins said last week’s delay caught him off guard and didn’t allow for time to make a change to the request.

But he said he didn’t believe there was any underlying reason for delaying the decision other than to address the city’s potential cost.

Eddie McBride, president of the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce — which spearheaded the performing arts center project — called the council’s delay an unnecessary “last-minute” decision in a process that’s been ongoing for more than a year.

“I was surprised the city didn’t already have the estimated cost,” he said. “No one asked anyone to sign a blank check. I think that was a little over the top.”

Collins said his organization will present the council with a request capping the city’s cost in demolishing the building — a number he and Mayor Glen Robertson estimated would be about $250,000 based in part on the $200,000 cost the city incurred demolishing the former Health Department building in 2012. That building covered much of a 2.4-acre lot at 19th Street and Texas Avenue.

The demolition cost is partially dependent on the building’s condition when the DPS vacates the property this fall, Collins said.

DPS Sgt. Bryan Witt said the department plans to move its new compound to the Lubbock Business Park beginning in late September. It could take several months before the old building is vacant, but DPS will remove underground fuel storage tanks — a process Robertson said initially added uncertainty to the cost of demolition.

Robertson said he “could live” with a council decision either to have the city cover the cost of demolition or to require the association to include demolition in its project’s budget.

“They’re spending $85 million for this project and, if they need to spend another $250,000 for demolition, that is a very small fraction of that budget,” he said.

Councilman Victor Hernandez said he supports a cap limiting the city’s expense on the project, but believes doing a simple cost-benefit analysis makes the project an obvious candidate for council support.

“They’re spending up to $85 million on this project and we could spend about $250,000 — does that seem like a good deal?” Hernandez asked rhetorically. “This would be a heck of an anchor for downtown.”

Ultimately, Robertson said he does not believe the demolition cost will make or break council support of the project.

“I think this council really wants this to happen,” Robertson said. “I don’t think there’s a person on this council who doesn’t think this would be an asset to the city.”

In April, the association announced its plans to raise about $85 million in private funding to build a 122,000-square-foot state-of-the-art entertainment and performing facility for concerts, ballet programs, symphony performances, Broadway shows, lecture series, cultural exhibits and educational programs.

At the time, the association announced it has already received commitments for $20 million from Lubbock’s CH Foundation and the Helen Jones Foundation.

Collins said the association continues its efforts to raise additional funds but is not ready to announce other pledges.

“I hope we’re announcing that $45 million in late summer or early fall,” he said, adding construction could begin as soon as 2014.

adam.young@lubbockonline.com

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Performing Arts Center land request

The Lubbock Entertainment & Performing Arts Association’s original request asked the city to commit the land at 1302 Mac Davis Lane under the following conditions:

■ “Prior to transfer of the property, LEPAA will have at least $45 million in written commitments for building the center.”

■ “The association will continue to raise money for construction of the Performing Arts Center. If construction has not begun and if LEPAA is unable to provide assurances satisfactory to the city that its financial condition is strong enough to provide an income stream for construction of the center by December 31, 2017, the agreement will terminate.”

■ “If, after transfer, LEPAA fails to use the property for the public purpose of construction and operation of venue, ownership of the property will automatically revert to the city.”